Texas (U.S. state)

Texas was an independent republic when it voted to join the United States of America as the the 28th state, entering officially on December 29, 1845. The capital is located in Austin. The state motto is "Friendship" and its nickname is the "Lone Star State," a reference to its flag when it was independent. The largest metropolitan areas are Houston, Dallas-Fort-Worth, and San Antonio. The population of 22.9 in 2006 makes Texas second to California; it contains 12 million minorities (8.4 million Hispanics, .882 million blacks, xx million Asians), as well as 11.4 million non-Hispanic whites.

History

Six national flags have flown over over Texas, Spain, France (which had a small brief settlement), Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.

Spain

1716-1821

Republic of Texas

March 2, 1836 - December 29, 1845

Texas leaders gathered at Washington-on-the-Brazos to sign The Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. Four days later the Alamo fell after a 13 day siege by Mexican troops led by Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. The massacre of all the defenders gave rise to the rallying call "Remember the Alamo". Santa Anna's Mexican troops were defeated on April 21 at the Battle of San Jacinto near present-day Houston.

Confederate States of America

March 2, 1861-March 15, 1866

United States of America

December 29, 1845-March 2, 1861 and March 15, 1866-present

Education

The University of Texas System is one of the largest higher education systems in the nation. The University of Texas at Austin is the largest institution in the UT System.

Government

The current Governor of Texas is Republican Rick Perry. Perry was Lieutenant Governor in 2000 when George W. Bush resigned as Governor to become the 43rd President of the United States of America.

Politics

After the American Civil War and before the Civil Rights movement, Texas was a part of the Solid South that had always voted for the Democratic Party. In the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century, Texan Democrats such as Ralph Yarborough and President Lyndon B. Johnson played a significant role in the domestic reform policies in that period. Later, however, along with the rest of Southern United States, Texas veered sharply to right and increasingly voted for the Republican Party. The last Democrat to win a statewide office, Governor Ann Richards, stepped down in 1995 and died in 2006. Today, Texas is a stronghold for Republicans and a national bastion of economic and cultural conservatism.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• The Handbook of Texas Online - Published by the Texas State Historical Association thousands of scholarly articles on every aspect of texas history
• Alvin R. Bailey Jr. and Light Townsend Cummins, eds. A Guide to the History of Texas. Greenwood Press. 1988.

Surveys

• Randolph B. Campbell, Gone to Texas: a History of the Lone Star State (Oxford University Press, 2003, 500 pages.
• De Leon, Arnoldo. Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History 2nd ed. Harlan Davidson, 1999.
• Patricia Evridge Hill. Dallas: The Making of a Modern City U of Texas Press, 1996.
• Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, Paul Horgan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, reprint, 1977, ISBN 0-03-029305-7
• Terry G. Jordan. Texas, a Geography Westview Press. 1984.
• David G. McComb. Houston, a History U of Texas Press, 1981.
• D. W. Meinig, Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Cultural Geography, University of Texas Press, 1969, 145 pages.
• Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986 University of Texas Press, 1987.
• Wooster, Ralph A. and Robert A. Calvert, eds. Texas Vistas (1987) reprinted scholarly essays

Pre–1865

• Baum, Dale. The Shattering of Texas Unionism: Politics in the Lone Star State during the Civil War Era Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
• Bell, Walter F. "Civil War Texas: A Review of the Historical Literature" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 109(2): 204-232. Issn: 0038-478x
• Buenger, Walter L. Secession and the Union in Texas. University of Texas Press, 1984.
• Campbell, Randolph B. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865 Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
• Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest HarperCollins, 1993.
• Campbell, Randolph B., and Richard G. Lowe. Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1977.
• Cantrell, Gregg. Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas. Yale University Press, 1999.
• Carroll, Mark M. Homesteads Ungovernable: Families, Sex, Race, and the Law in Frontier Texas, 1823–1860 University of Texas Press, 2001.
• Chipman, Donald E. Spanish Texas, 1519–1821 University of Texas Press, 1992.
• Chipman, Donald E., and Harriett Denise Joseph. Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas. University of Texas Press, 1999.
• De Leon, Arnoldo. The Tejano Community, 1836–1900 University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
• Friend, Llerena B. Sam Houston: The Great Designer University of Texas Press, 1954.
• Hardin, Stephen L. Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 University of Texas Press, 1994.
• Jordan, Terry G. German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth Century Texas University of Texas Press, 1966.
• Kerby, Robert L. Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863–1865 Columbia University Press, 1972.
• Lack, Paul D. The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835–1836 Texas A&M University Press, 1992.
• Lowe, Richard G., and Randolph B. Campbell. Planters and Plain Folk: Agriculture in Antebellum Texas Southern Methodist University Press, 1987.
• Lowrie, Samuel H. Culture Conflict in Texas, 1821–1835 Columbia University Press, 1932.
• Poyo, Gerald E., ed. Tejano Journey, 1770–1850 University of Texas Press, 1996.
• Siegel, Stanley. A Political History of the Texas Republic University of Texas Press, 1956.
• Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Plantation Life in Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1986.
• Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. Yale University Press, 1992.

1865–1920

• Barr, Alwyn. Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876–1906 University of Texas Press, 1971.
• Buenger, Walter L. The Path to a Modern South: Northeast Texas between Reconstruction and the Great Depression University of Texas Press, 2001.
• Campbell, Randolph B. Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880 Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
• Clampitt, Brad R. "The Breakup: the Collapse of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Army in Texas, 1865" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 498-534. Issn: 0038-478x
• Cotner, Robert C. James Stephen Hogg: A Biography . University of Texas Press, 1959.
• Crouch, Barry A. The Freedmen's Bureau and Black Texans. University of Texas Press, 1992.
• Gould, Lewis N. Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era University of Texas Press, 1973.
• Jordan, Terry G. Trails to Texas: Southern Roots of Western Cattle Ranching University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
• McArthur, Judith N. Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893–1918. University of Illinois Press, 1998.
• Martin, Roscoe C. The People's Party in Texas: A Study in Third Party Politics University of Texas Press, 1933.
• Pitre, Merline. Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868–1900 Eakin Press, 1985.
• Ramsdell, Charles William. Reconstruction in Texas Columbia University Press, 1910.
• Rice, Lawrence D. The Negro in Texas, 1874–1900 Louisiana State University Press, 1971
• Spratt, John Stricklin. The Road to Spindletop: Economic Change in Texas, 1875–1901. Southern Methodist University Press, 1955.
• Utley, Robert M. Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers Oxford University Press, 2002.

1920–2006

• Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929–1939. Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
• Brown, Norman D. Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921–1928 Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
• Robert A. Caro. The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) (1990); Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) (1991)
• Cox, Patrick. Ralph W. Yarborough, The People's Senator. University of Texas Press, 2001.
• Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960. Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Davidson, Chandler. Race and Class in Texas Politics. Princeton University Press, 1990.
• Foley, Neil. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture University of California Press, 1997.
• Green, George Norris. The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957 Greenwood Press, 1979.
• Knaggs, John R. Two-Party Texas: The John Tower Era, 1961–1984 Eakin Press, 1986.
• Lee, James Ward, et al., eds. 1941: Texas Goes to War. University of North Texas Press, 1991.
• Char Miller. Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas Trinity University Press 2004.
• Olien, Diana Davids, and Roger M. Olien. Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895–1945 University of Texas Press, 2002.
• Patenaude, Lionel V. Texans, Politics, and the New Deal Garland Publishing, 1983.
• Perryman, M. Ray. Survive and Conquer, Texas in the '80s: Power—Money—Tragedy … Hope! Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990.
• James Reston. The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally (1989)
• San Miguel, Guadalupe, Jr. “Let All of Them Take Heed”: Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910–1981 University of Texas Press, 1987.
• Whisenhunt, Donald W. The Depression in Texas: The Hoover Years Garland Publishing, 1983.
• The End of Cheap Oil National Geographic Society, 2004.

Primary source collections

• Gallaway, B. P., ed. Texas, The Dark Corner of the Confederacy: Contemporary Accounts of the Lone Star State in the Civil War 3rd. Ed. University of Nebraska Press, 1994.